Recently I decided to get a paid membership to Apple iOS developers. I have a couple Macs, an iPad, iPhone and other devices so I thought I would give it a shot doing some programming. The side benefit is early access to iOS and OS X betas etc. and so I’ve been using the beta versions for a little while. The other day Apple released the GM seed, “Gold Master” of iOS 8 to us developers and I put it on as many devices as I could. The reactions are mixed. I love the new features and so does a friend of mine. My wife and daughter think they are unnecessary but that’s their perspective owning just one device. I am finding that it’s difficult for me to decide between a jailbroken iOS 7.1.2 device and a non-jailbroken iOS 8 device because of how good the new features are. Combined with OS X Yosemite, iOS 8 has some nice integration features including being able to answer and make calls through my iPhone from my Macs. So lets say my iPhone isn’t near me (ok, probably happens seldom) but I’m sitting in front of the Macbook and Jodi calls me. I can click on the screen and answer the call right there, I don’t have to run through the house to grab the phone. This also works on my iPad 2. If the call comes in and I’m on the iPad, I answer it right there. No need to dig the iPhone out of my pocket for example. The really cool stuff though is related to the iTunes accounts. We have a few and so sometimes one of us has music or apps etc. that one of the other people wants but we don’t want to pay for it again. The cool thing with family sharing is now I can access the other’s purchases and they can access mine likewise. I can also make it so that our daughter Hailey has to ask for and have approval to buy things by Jodi or I. I’ve only scratched the surface of what iOS 8 and Yosemite will do here. If you have an iPad 2 or newer, an iPhone 4S or newer, or an iPod Touch 5th Gen, I think you’re going to love it. I know I can't decide if I will stay using it or go back to jailbroken but it's a tough decision... thanks Apple...

When the iPhone 5S came out, the specs and new features, to me, didn't warrant the $200 upgrade price tag since I already had an iPhone 5. With the recent news of the price being lowered to $100 I would say its time to re-evaluate that position.

Currently here's the break down:

Dan - iPhone 5

Jodi - iPhone 4S

Hailey - iPhone 3GS

Ethan - iPhone 3GS (inactive)

So $100 would make that:

Dan - iPhone 5S

Jodi - iPhone 5

Hailey - iPhone 4S

Ethan - unchanged

*spare iPhone 3GS can either be saved for emergencies or resold

So when you look at it from that perspective, $100 really gets us 3 upgrades and the ability to sell off a 3GS. This also meets Hailey's desire to have a iOS 7 powered iPhone with Siri.